ecballium definition

September 23, 2017 AZ Dictionary

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noun:

A genus of cucurbitaceous flowers composed of the solitary species Ecballium agreste (or Elaterium), the squirting cucumber. Its good fresh fruit, whenever ripe, blasts and violently ejects its seeds, as well as a mucilaginous liquid, from where elaterium, a powerful cathartic medicine, is prepared.